frayed at the edge

Rising to the challenge

The lovely Anne Gaal has issued a challenge, to make something on the theme of butterflies and spring.  I can never resist a challenge, so this afternoon I headed out to the studio, put on some good music and set about making a card to enter.  I started by cutting my card to size

 

 

Then I used the back of the scissors to score the centre of the card to make it easier to fold

 

Next came the fun bit - I got to play with my new toy, a Cuttlebug, which cuts shapes from card. 

 

 

Before I cut out the flowers, I stuck the card onto a double sided adhesive sheet - much easier than trying to use glue (I always end up with more glue on me than the card!)

 

 

After pressing out the flowers, I stuck them in place on the card (I cut an extra pale pink flower, so that I could swap the centres of the flowers)

 

 

For the next stage, I stuck two strips of patterned card together, and cut out two butterflies

 

 

I creased them, so that their wings would stand out when I stuck them on the card.  The last stage was to do the lettering.  I am just learning calligraphy, but I was quite pleased with the finished card

 

 

Inside, the wording is

 

 

To see the other participants, do pop over to Anne's blog and scroll down to the bottom of the post about the challenge.  The second part of the challenge is to give the card to someone you know to brighten their day - I wonder whom I will give it to .......

  

It's Wednesday, so it must be .....

 

porridge - our Wednesday breakfast!

 

a long soak in the bath

 

going out for lunch wearing my new scarf

 

a warming bowl of soup with delicious bread

 

But there is another little story to tell ...... I was deciding which perfume to put on

Flower by Kenzo on the left, or Flower by Kenzo Oriental on the right (that's  not as extravagant as it seems - the Oriental is almost finished!!).  But putting the perfume on reminded me of when Malcolm first bought me Flower for my birthday.  He had been working abroad for months on end, often coming home late on Friday night and leaving again on Sunday morning, so that year my birthday presents came from Marseilles Airport!!  First there was the perfume, then .......

a set of lavender bags

a lovely bag of herbes de Provence

a beautiful pashmina .....

so, they may have been an odd collection of presents, but it must be five or six years since that birthday ..... and it's still my favourite perfume, I still use the lavender bags in the airing cupboard (they just need a squeeze now and then!), I still use the bag to keep herbs in (the original ones were used long ago) and I still wear the pashmina!!
 
 

 

 

 
 
 
 

 

Tuesday Tutotial 4

 

Chocolate Wallhanging : part 2

The next stage for the wallhanging is to layer it up and quilt it.  You will need a fat quarter to use for the backing fabric, and for the hanging sleeve

 

I placed the wallhanging in one corner of the fat quarter, leaving a half inch of the backing fabric showing.  I cut off the strip on the long edge, again leaving a half inch (this strip makes your hanging sleeve) then I cut off the remaining extra fabric (yes, leaving that half inch) 

 

 

 

 

Next, I basted (tacked) the layers together.  Normally I would use white or ecru thread, but I have used red thread so that you can see what I did

 

 

 

 

 

 

If I was basting a large quilt, I would start in the centre, but for this wallhanging, I started at the top edge.  I took a long stitch (about an inch), then took the next one about two inches down from the first one. 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the first row, worked down the centre of the wallhanging. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The wallhanging ready to quilt.   Again, if it was a bigger quilt, I would baste it across the way as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I quilted the wallhanging using the 'in the ditch' method.  Because the seams were pressed to one side, it means that one side (in this case the calico) is lower , which is the 'ditch'.  I stitched on the calico, with the needle as close to the border as possible.  I started in the centre of the bottom edge, lowering the needle into the fabric ...

 

 

 

..... then I raised the needle again.  I moved the fabric to one side and pulled on the top thread, pulling the bottom thread up to the top.  This stops the bottom thread being stitched over by accident.   I stitched round the four sides, then when I finished, I pulled the bottom thread through to the top, ready to fasten off the ends.

 

 

 

I threaded the needle with the first pair of threads, then took the needle under the fabic and into the wadding .....

 

 

 

 

 

 

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...... then pulled the needle through in the border trimming off the thread.   I then did the same with the remaining threads.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I trimmed the extra fabric off, making sure that the edges were straight and the corners square.   From another fat quarter, to make the binding, I cut four strips, each two and a half inches wide, and folded them in half lengthways and ironed them.

 

 

 

 

With right sides and raw edges together, I stitched a strip to each of the two short sides, trimmed them to fit, then turned the strips to the wrong side, and pinned the ends, with the folded edge just covering the line of stitching.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next I took the strip for the hanging sleeve, and trimmed it to three and a half inches deep, and half an inch wider than the wallhanging.  On the short sides, I turned under a quarter inch and pressed it, then turned it under another quarter inch and pressed it again.  I stitched these two hems, then on one long edge I turned in a quarter inch and pressed it.

 

 

 

I put the strip along the top edge and pinned it in place, then turned the wallhanging over and pinned the binding in place, leaving half an inch of binding at each end.  I also pinned the binding on the bottom edge.

 

 

 

 

 

After handstitching the binding on the short sides on the back (taking care that the stitches didn't go through to the right side), I turned in the half inch of the binding on the long side ....

 

 

 

 

 

  

..... then I folded the binding over and stitched it, just covering the line of machine stitching.  Once all the binding was stitched, I then stitched the bottom edge of the hanging sleeve (again being careful that the stitches didn't show on the right side)

 

 

 

 

 

I have used a small curtain rod and cord to hang it, but you could also use a piece of wooden dowel with large wooden beads on the end. 

 

A very busy day!

I'm usually busy on a Monday, but today has been just non-stop!  I got up as usual just after 6.30 to exercise (cross-trainer and rowing machine), then breakfast, shower, first load of laundry on, then off to Hawick to do the weekly foodshop.  Back home, shopping put away, a bowl of homemade soup for lunch (another load of laundry on) and then I had time to grab the camera and head out for a walk.  It was very cold, so I was well wrapped up ..... a t-shirt, a jumper which makes me look like a teddy bear, a fleece jacket that makes me look like a grizzly bear, windproof trousers, handknitted socks and walking boots ... oh, and not forgetting warm gloves - I'm getting good at taking photos with gloves on!  After I got back from  my walk, I made a salad to have with the leftover chicken from yesterday for dinner, a pot of soup and put on the last load of laundry .... by which time it was dinnertime!!  So now I can sit and relax and show you the photos I took this afternoon .....

 

this crane seemed to be in the middle of a field .....

 

.... but it was working at this farm!

 

the puddle has dried, leaving the ice stuck to the tree

 

this piece of ice has a pretty pattern

 

suddenly, there are snowdrops everywhere!

 

I took the photos of the lambs through a hedge!

 

please can I have one!

 

cuddling up to mum

 

And finally ...... there were several requests for the Border Tart recipe.  There are lots of variations, but this is the recipe I have (which is scribbled on a piece of paper - I can't remember who gave it to me)

225g pastry, 50g butter, 100g sugar, 110g currants, 25g almonds, 25g cherries, 1 beaten egg

Heat the oven to 180C.  Line a 23cm flan tin with the pastry.  Melt the butter and sugar together, then stir in the rest of the ingredients.  Spread the mixture over the pastry and bake for 20-25 minutes.  Allow to cool before turning out onto a plate.  You can also drizzle icing over the tart if you wish.

Now for a spot of browsing through my favoutite blogs, before I finish the octopus circles scarf!